336 Fishes of the Ohio 
species, except one that is occasionally exposed for sale, in the 
Cincinnati market, under the name of “ mud-cat," and which 
Rafinesque has described as the P. nebulosus. I, however, 
consider it as merely the old of the present species. It is 
much larger, and proportionately shorter and broader, than the 
one figured. 1 have never seen the young, unless our present 
species be considered as such. 
The skins of both look as though they had recently recov- 
ered from some extensive eruptive disorder. They are not 
much esteemed for food ; but, I believe, it is owing solely to 
their forbidding complexion. 
Norvmus. Raf. 
N. flavus. Raf. Yellow Backtail. 
Noturus flavus. Yellow Backtail. Rafinesque, Ichthyologia Ohiensis, p. 68. 
“ e t « Kirtland, Rep. on Zool. of Ohio, pp. 169, 195. 
Pimelodus flavus. Young Cat.fish. Dekay’s Rep. p. 187. 
Plate XXVI. Fig. 2. 
Head much flattened above and below, wide behind the 
eyes, more than one fifth the total length of the fish. Eyes 
circular, small, prominent; pupil black ; iris yellow. Nose 
elongate, covering the tip of the lower jaw. Lateral à; 
two, not as long as the head; superior barbels on a line 
between the eyes and nostrils, nearer the latter, extending 
beyond the tip of the snout; inferior barbels four, the po 
exterior more remote from the lower lip than the two interior, 
and double their length. Teeth numerous in both jaws 
Body broad, and convex anterior to the ventral fins, back and 
belly flattened, compressed laterally from the ventrals to the 
base of the tail. Lateral line flexuous at its base. 
Anterior dorsal fin low, the soft rays more elevated than 
the spinous ray; posterior dorsal soft, commences over the 
anal-fin, and gradually expanding as it progresses backwards, 
